Canada West: 2014 wrestling preview

February 12, 2014, EDMONTON (ISN) – The 2013 Canada West wrestling championships take place on February 14-15 at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

Aside from individual competition, the Rawson Trophy goes to the top overall men’s team, while women compete for the Canada West Women’s Wrestling Trophy. Individual awards, to be announced at the event’s conclusion, include Outstanding Wrestler of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Top Student-Athlete (CIS nominee), Coach of the Year and the Fair Play Trophy. Awards will be presented following conclusion of the event on Saturday.

Class winners will be declared First Team All-Stars, second-place finishers being Second Team All-Stars.

EDMONTON – The University of Alberta wrestling teams enter the season as defending Canada West men’s and women’s champions as well as defending national men’s champions. Alberta has had a strong start to 2013-14, looking poised to defend both conference titles and challenge on the national stage once again.

The Pandas, winners of the CIS title in 2011, and two national silver medals (2012 and 2013), have won three of their four tournaments they have competed in this season, and finished in second place in other tournament. The Golden Bears, meanwhile, have finished on the podium at every tournament this season as well, earning team gold, two silvers and bronze so far.

While Owen Dawkins’ Pandas team is without last year’s Canada West MVP, Jaime Bergenstrom, who is out with injury, he has an excellent nucleus remaining, one that is bolstered by a few of his choice recruits. A quartet of veterans leads the Pandas, starting with fifth-year Hayley Thomas, and includes Marlen Figueroa, Sabrina Kelly and Madison Beblow. Thomas, Kelly and Figueroa were all contributing members of Alberta’s national championship women’s wrestling win in 2011, while Thomas, a fifth-year from Whitecourt, Alberta, is a two-time Canada West gold medalist (2013 and 2012) and a CIS individual bronze medalist (2010-11) as well as a silver medalist from the 2011 Junior National Championships. Kelly, a fourth-year Panda from St. Albert, is a multiple CIS and Canada West medalist, including two CIS silver medals, and she wrestled for Canada at the Pan Am Games in the summer of 2010. In 2011, after helping the Pandas to CIS team championship, she won gold at the Junior National Championships and was named the Outstanding Female Wrestler of the meet. Figueroa, who hails from Thunder Bay, Ontario, which is where Dawkins was coaching before joining the U of A, is also a two-time CIS silver medalist as well as a three-time Canada West medalist. And, in three years with the U of A, Beblow has won silver and bronze and the Canada West level and bronze at the CIS meet.

New recruits to the Pandas that are making impressions are Genie Gokhman, Cholena Horne, Amber Maschke and Krystin Paquette.

On the men’s side, Edmonton-born Mike Asselstine leads the defending champion Golden Bears. The former Canada West rookie of the year is coming off a career season in which he won Canada West gold, CIS silver, the CIS student-athlete community service award, the Wilson Challenge Trophy as the U of A’s male student-athlete of the year and a gold medal for Canada at the Francophone Games in Nice, France.

Returning Golden Bear Dylan Williams, who was a CIS silver medalist last season, as well as Jason Margo and Drew Belanger make up the returning core for Dawkins on the men’s side, while rookies Melvin Arciaga and Steven McCarville, from Vancouver and Regina, respectively, have shown very well this season and figure to be big parts of Alberta’s push to defend their CIS title. Abdul Taj and Daniel Oloumi are both former Canada West bronze medalists (2012-13), while sophomore Saheel Khan has competed for Canada at the Pan Am Games, and is former member of Canada’s U-16 rugby team.

CALGARY – The University of Calgary will have nine Dinos from the men’s team competing and another eight on the women’s side that will vie for the Canada West title. Last season, the men’s team finished fourth overall at the championships, and the women took second behind the Alberta Pandas.

This season, the Dinos men’s contingent includes Brian Hutton. He returns in the 72kg weight class as the CIS bronze medalist and the Canada West champion. At 65kg, Spenser Burk missed the Canada West Championships last season, but was a successful performer in his third year with the Dinos.

For the women, Josee Tremblay returns for her second year as a CIS silver medalist in the 48kg weight class. Jessy Seida is also a key returnee as a fifth-year as she is a former CIS medalist as well. The Dinos also welcome Temi Ogunjimi to the team in her first season. The newest Dino was a Canada Games champion over the summer and adds strength to the Dinos lineup. Calgary will sorely miss the likes of Holly Clark who was last year’s 82kg CIS champion. She is currently out with an injury.

REGINA – Both of the University of Regina wrestling teams return some key pieces of the puzzle as the Cougars prepare for this weekend’s Canada West wrestling championships, hosted by Saskatchewan.

The women’s team enters the conference meet ranked No. 10 in the CIS and is led by fourth-year wrestler Kristine Longeau, who took Canada West silver at 72 kg and is expected to grapple at the same class this year. Also back this season for the Cougars are Danielle Anderson, Kayla Brodner, and Cass Schmidt, who all placed fourth at last season’s conference meet and will look to medal this weekend in Saskatoon.

Jacob Luczak, who won Canada West bronze and placed fifth at the CIS meet last season as a rookie, joins Matt Fedler as the only two Cougars expected to compete this weekend with experience at the CIS Championships. Fedler was also a conference bronze medallist last season, placing third at 68 kg. He’ll wrestle at either 68 or 72 this weekend, while third-year wrestlers Sam Dietrich and Regan Pratt also bring Canada West Championships experience to this year’s lineup.

The women’s team is looking for its first conference championship, while the men’s team will be attempting to lock up its 11th Canada West title and first championship since winning back-to-back in 2011 and 2012.

SASKATOON – Looking to finish at the top of the pack at the 2014 Canada West championships, the University of Saskatchewan wrestling teams will get their chance as hosts of the annual dual format meet.

With the graduation of four fifth-year athletes – 2013 medalists Natasha Kramble, Koren Pitkethly, Ryan Myrfield and Landon Squires – the Huskies squad will look for success from youth. Winning medals in all but three of the 10 weight classes, the Huskie men finished second one season ago, while the women finished fourth. At the CIS level, the Huskies finished fifth on the men’s side and fourth in the women’s standings.

Leading the charge for the Huskies on the men’s side is captain and 2013 CIS Second Team All-Canadian Dylan Bray in the 57-kilogram weight class. A three-time conference silver medalist, the fourth-year will look for the elusive gold entering the championship undefeated in varsity competitions.

To help Bray in CIS experience is Shane Johnson (54-kg), Theo Dow (61-kg) and Malcolm Meekins (65-kg). Johnson and Dow each captured bronze medals last season, while Meekins won silver in his rookie season.

The Huskies return just three of the eight members from the 2013 women’s squad. Leading the team is Silke Svenkeson in the 51-kg weight class. The third-year secured a bronze medal in 2013. Joining her is Annie Monteith in the 48-kg class. Monteith has won four gold medals in varsity competitions this season.

Saskatchewan enters the conference championship ranked No. 7 in the CIS on the women’s side and No. 10 in men’s.

WINNIPEG – Head coach Adrian Bruce and the Winnipeg Wesmen are looking to continue their impressive showings on the season.

On the men’s side first year team member Mitchell Berenz (Milwaukee, WI) comes into the Canada West Championships with three gold medals in the 65 kg class to his resume (Wesmen Open, Saskatchewan Huskies Open and Alberta Golden Bears Open). Tahir Hamraev (Manitou, MB, 76 kg) has won three medals this season including gold at the University of Winnipeg Open. Brock Munro (Prince Albert, SK, 68 kg) in his second year of competition won a pair of bronze medals to go along with one gold medal. Wade Fry recently added to the roster won gold in his first competition at the Regina Cougars Open. Kyle Nguyen (Vancouver) brings experience to the team and also results, winning a pair of silver medals this season. All these wrestlers should be in the medal hunt at the CW Championships. Ben Christopher, Mokhtar Hakimi, Prateek Gharti-Chettri and Jamie Maiers round out the roster.

The women’s team has won a total of seven medals during Canada West competitions this season. Rachel Alder (Winnipeg) and Emily Kessler (Essesx, ON) each won a pair of silver medals this season in the 51 and 55 kg weight class respectively. Tia MacDonald (Cambridge, ON) won a silver and bronze medal. All three wrestlers will be looking to be in contention and medal at the Canada West Championships. Anne Cecille-Panchaud, who won bronze in the 72 kg class in Regina and Roylene Oliarny round out the female side for the Wesmen. http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/index/wesmen-ni